Picture of the Day - 2

(Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama and his wife Michelle watch a Fourth of July parade with their two daughters, Malia, right, and Sasha in Butte, Mont., Friday, July 4, 2008.(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong))

(AP) On July 4, "The Pentagon has extended the tour of 2,200 Marines in Afghanistan, after insisting for months the unit would come home on time."

(AP) "The U.S. military said airstrikes by its attack helicopters hit two vehicles carrying insurgents in eastern Afghanistan. The province's governor said 22 civilians, including a woman and a child, were killed."

(Reuters) Panama has ruled out hosting a U.S. military base to replace one in Ecuador which is being reclaimed by the Quito government.

(Reuters) John McCain wants another 150,000 increase in the army on top of the current increases.

And, a little July 4th news, (AFP) American Joey Chestnut defeated Takeru Kobayashi for the second year in the Nathan's hot dog eating contest. USA! USA!

Picture of the Day

(U.S. soldiers take an oath during a mass reenlistment ceremony in Baghdad July 4, 2008. More than 1200 soldiers were reenlisted in the U.S. military on Friday as part of a U.S. Independence Day celebration at al-Faw palace in Camp Victory. (REUTERS/Erik de Castro))

They really, really want to hate Obama, but they just can't seem to figure out how.

(Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think the latest charges, "flip flopper" or "self interested" are going to do that much damage.

The attackers seem to misunderstand the phenomena. It's not about Obama at all. It's about a desperate desire within a majority of Americans to feel good about America again. How do you dislocate people from that?)

Using Montana to shape the narrative.

Montana has 3 electoral votes, so, frankly, it's hardly a prize on its own, but Obama is spending time and (small media market) money there. Obama is there today, attending a July 4 parade. He chose to spend this "patriotic day" in Montana.

He might have a shot in Montana (Rasmussen actually published an Obama +5 Montana poll, popular Dem governor, etc,) but I think this is much more about narrative than winning the state.

A perceived chance in Montana gives credibility to the 50 state claim, to the "different kind of politician" claim, to the western state claim, and to the challenge of the traditional Ohio, Pa, Fla, map. What the Obama folks are shooting for is the open question, "if he can compete in Montana...."

You would still expect Montana to swing to McCain (even though he's yet to put any staff in the state,) but in the interim, the idea that Obama could reach into Montana is a powerful tug on the narrative.

Obama edges off his Iraq position

Don't freak out, but it appears Obama is backing off some of the specific language on his withdrawal timeline on Iraq. (The "one or two brigades a month....")

Not really too surprising, if you think about it. As Obama faces the reality that he's going to be the next president, he's backing off specifics on several of his national security positions to give himself more leeway later on. (On Iraq, he was always going to talk with Generals/Pentagon before enacting any strict withdrawal timeline.)

The collapsing presidency of George Bush taking us all with it

Take just a minute to buzz through the first half of this interview with new Russian PM Medvedev.

It's really pretty unbelievable, but, I think importantly, it captures the current state and tone of the world towards the US and the current US president. Countries are simply ignoring the proclamations and wants of the Bush administration without real consequence, without any fear.

Our country is viewed as wounded, by Iraq, by debt, by oil prices, by our mortgage and economic crisis......

This administration began by swaggering about trying to use the military and blunt diplomatic force to bludgeon the world towards (what they viewed as) US ends. Instead they ended up hollowing out the country.

This was always the problem with the vision of "the Project for a New American Century." It's basic premise was to use the current US military advantage to try and hold back the larger shifting historical trends. But you can't do that.

The forces moving America from hyperpower back to superpower are the waves of history, and a few small wars cannot hold back the endemic and systemic economic and cultural trends that are making that happen.

This was always my primary disagreement with the Bush administration. We should have spent this time building international legal frameworks that would work to our advantage later rather than spending everything we had on some half assed plan to try and hold back history in the sands of Iraq.

(Sorry, not much of a July 4 message, but there are days when you've just had enough.)

I mean, who could have known Iran might have sympathetic eyes in Iraq? It's not like the military has been screaming about it for months.

(PS. If you were thinking about working with the Americans, do you think you are now? Iranian dissident prison.)

Later: Thinking overnight, I think it's important to note the "turf war" aspect of this. This operation was being run by the "US military officers inside Iraq," not CIA or whoever, so this may have been leaked as part of a broader "turf war."

Political bits

(TheHill) Republicans are starting to grumble that John McCain has done nothing to help the Republican Senate and House reelection committees. (Not even an email on their behalf. I've been reading similar grumbles from some state parties.)

(Gallup) Hispanic voters solidly behind Obama 59-29. (A margin higher than either of the last two presidential elections.)

(Ambinder) An outside group trying to woo evangelicals for Obama run their first ad on Christian Radio. (It's like a whole different language.)

(HuffPo) The host of a McCain fundraiser was the Chiquita executive who plead guilt to giving $1.7 million to terrorists(FARC.) (This sounds like Oppo research. It only breaks when McCain is in Colombia?)

Guantanamo interrogation class built on China's Korean war brainwashing?

The shock of this article is certainly that the US was training at Guantanamo with torture techniques practiced by the Chinese in the Korean war (condemned as torture and brainwashing at the time,) but let's be sure not to miss the more important point, that these torture techniques were known to produce false confessions.

Courting Colin Powell.......

We're at the Swiftboaters again

The thing everyone seems to forget about the infamous "Swiftboat" episode of 2004 is that it wasn't really the Swiftboaters themselves who did the damage. That very small group with very small funds initially ran just one ad in just one market.

The true villainy of the Swiftboat episode was in the media, who promoted those guys full time for weeks, giving them free air time and exposure they could only dream of.

But more importantly than even the exposure, it was the media that gave the Swiftboaters their credibility by treating their charges as a "controversy."

I bring this up because, to some degree we're there again, Obama's patriotism. Regardless of any reality, how exactly would Obama prove he's "patriotic enough?"

But, also notice the things that aren't given "controversy status." McCain's first marriage, how it ended, the fact that he only got into politics because he married money, the several reports of infidelity and dubious lobbying contacts, Keating Five...... all off limits.

With Obama, let's put down, race, Rezco, past drug use.... I don't know what else (ask the Clinton folks, I'm sure they have a list,) but you get the point. It works both ways.

It is the media that stands as the gatekeeper on all this, on what is permissible conversation and what is not. Their decision making is some weird black box equational mashup of balancing ratings, filling the empty airtime, and their own self-opinions of their ethics.

I would love to see the media's role in the Swiftboaters brought back up, but that's not going to happen. The media never takes blame on itself.

Quickhits - I cry bullcrap

(AP) The White House is claiming "satisfactory" on 15 of the 18 Iraq benchmarks coming out of the latest Pentagon report. (This is just outright misrepresentation. At least the AP debunks a few as a sample.)

(Reuters) State Department spokesman Tom Casey slaps down all the bull flying around about Israel attacking Iran and Iran being 9 months from a bomb. (He actually taunts the "anonymous sources" in the ABC piece.)

Picture of the Day

Monday, June 30, 2008

Political bits

The rumor from Politico is that Romney has the inside track for McCain's VP. Not because of his politics, or his ability to work with McCain, but because of his ability to raise money quickly. (With McCain being the oldest man ever to run for president, is that how we pick who is "a heartbeat away...."?)

Lieberman threatens terror in '09

(Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.,laughs before the start of the taping of 'Face The Nation', June 29, 2008. (Karin Cooper))

On Face the Nation, In describing the reasons he believes the Republicans' presumptive nominee for president would be better prepared than the Democrats' to lead the nation next January, Sen. Joe Lieberman said that history shows the United States would likely face a terrorist attack in 2009.

Quickhits

(Same article) "Mr Cheney's office is believed to have played a key role in the release two months ago of documents and photographs linking North Korea to a suspected nuclear site in Syria that was bombed by Israeli jets last year."

(Guardian) "Three key US-backed measures on oil, provincial elections and the future of US troops are mired in the Iraqi parliament..."

(AP) The Kurds still claim their independent oil deals stand regardless of what the central government says.

(PressTV/release) Ahmed Chalabi is in Tehran meeting with the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Larijani.

And, a very sad NYTimes article pointing out that, after all the war, the Iraqi Paralympic team is significantly larger than its Olympic team.

Escalating covert operations in/against Iran - Sy Hersh

Just on a quick read, the US is still funding the Baluchis/Jundullah a Sunni terror group operating out of the south with ties to Al Qaeda that has bombed, executed, and committed terrorist acts, as well as the Iraq based MEK and Kurdish PJAK.

About This Blog

This is not the America I was brought up to believe in.
This blog seeks to highlight abuse of power, deception, corruption, and just plain bad ideas in government and corporations.
Updated several times a day.